Duff McKagan: Coming Up Roses

Duff McKagan’s ‘It’s So Easy’ now in paperback: Aidin Vaziri | Duff McKagan is full of surprises. He shot to fame as the perpetually strung-out bassist of Guns N’ Roses, had a couple of near-death experiences, stopped working with the world’s most neurotic lead singer to work with the world’s second most neurotic lead singer in Velvet Revolver, and picked up a bunch of platinum albums along the way. Most unexpected, McKagan – a high school dropout – has led a second life as a columnist for the Seattle Weekly, Playboy and ESPN. The 48-year-old rocker’s writing credentials led to the publication of his book, “It’s So Easy (and Other Lies)” (Touchstone, $15.99), which hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-sellers list upon its release last year and is now available in paperback. We caught up with him at his home in Los Angeles and learned the following things.

1. He doesn’t particularly like discussing Guns N’ Roses’ forthcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “When my book first came out on hard back we were doing a nerdy book tour the Rock Hall of Fame thing happened. It was a drag because I was already out there and I kind of had to answer questions about it. Suddenly I was in the news. The paperback’s coming out now and this is going to be a main topic again. I understand. It’s part of my history and it is a big deal for our fans. That’s actually a bigger deal than getting into the institution itself.” Read more.